In recent times, automation of offices is rapidly becoming a reality for an increasing number of organizations. Office automation helps the organizations integrate data files with text, store and retrieve correspondence and reports electronically, distribute documents electronically and support the day-to-day activities of administrative personnel, professionals and managers.
While some of the benefits of electronic document processing can be realized from a single, stand-alone office system, a network which connects office systems in various locations in the organization increases the productivity of the organization. Physically, a network is a combination of interconnected pieces of equipment and programs used for moving information between points where it may be generated, processed, stored and used. From the viewpoint of an user of the network, the network is a collection of services which are useful in creating, revising, distributing, filing and retrieving documents.
In today's electronic office, documents are physically grouped or stored using one of the following techniques: partition data sets, directories and folders. Partition data sets are storage areas on a disk or other form of storage medium. Documents stored in a partition data set only exist in that storage area and a partition data set can not be deleted until all of the documents included therein have been removed. Generally, the documents are filed in the partition data set in the order created and there is no other relationship regarding the order to the documents.
Directories are similar to partition data sets in that they are physical storage areas for documents for files. Documents can not exist in more that one physical storage area. The documents contained in a directory are not logically organized.
In regards to both the partition data sets and the directories, if a user filed a group of documents which are related to a general topic and wanted to review the group of documents, the user would have to first locate the partition data set or sets or the directory or directories containing the documents. In partition data sets and directories, documents have to be deleted from the bottom up. Additionally, it is very difficult to rearrange documents stored or grouped using these two techniques. The documents must be copied and then deleted. Moreover, partition data sets, except for the contents thereof, can not be distributed. Directories can not be distributed in their entirety. Linear and hierarchical groupings can not be distributed using directories or partition data sets because the groupings mechanism utilized therewith will be lost. This type of operation technique reduces the efficiency of the electronic office.
Folders are documents which form hierarchical and linear relationship between a group of documents. Folders can be nested to form the hierarchical relationship whereby the group of documents within a folder are ordered to form the linear relationship. The documents within a folder are organized sequentially by a specified descriptor or by a specified position number. Access to a folder is independent from the documents contained therein. Documents within a folder can be manipulated as a single document, as a set of documents which comprise the entire folder or as a set of documents which comprise a specified level of the folder document.
A folder can be used to form a directed or one-to-one relationship between two documents. This requires the folder to be a first document and a document contained therein to be a second document. The relationship suffers in that not all documents are folders and if any other documents are entered into the folder, the one-to-one relationship between the first and the second document becomes unclear.
The use of partitioned data sets and directories in establishing directed relationships between two documents suffers from limitations which are similar to those as a result of using a folder. There is no way to identify which document is coupled to another, when more than two documents are included in a partitioned data set or directory, the one-to-one relationship is lost and the forms of grouping documents requires the creation of a new folder, directory or partition to establish the relationship.
Consequently, what is needed is a technique for establishing a directed relationship between documents without creating additional documents or groups.